


Behind enemy lines

by ioniclightning



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Angst, Blood, Come Inflation, Cuddling, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Psychological Torture, Torture, Violence, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 16:22:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16222826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ioniclightning/pseuds/ioniclightning
Summary: *slaps fanfic; look at all the violence, angst and smut that fits in here* During their training days on an espionage mission, Red and Purple get captured by the enemy. Zim is partially to blame.  Horrible stuff happens! Angst! Explicit sexy stuff!  Spoilers: happy ending.





	Behind enemy lines

  
Purple paced to the opening in their holo-shelter, looking outside for the hundredth time. Red was up there on the hills somewhere, stationing the surveillance dish to spy on the nearby base. He was taking forever. He held his arm, absentmindedly feeling the fabric of his uniform.   
They weren't even supposed to be out here, but Red didn't trust anyone else with this job. Purple sighed, and HE was left here with Zim. It was impossible to shake the freak off, once he'd latched on. Purple glanced at the corner where the sounds came from, Zim was slowly giving him a headache.   
Purple gritted his teeth. 'Would you stop groaning!'  
Zim turned to face him with a quick salute. 'But of course, my commanding Elite! I was only thinking about the mission!' The little guy beamed where he stood, his fists clenches at his sides, eyes radiant.   
Purple looked away, pressing his jaws where they clenched. The headache was definitely there now.  
Zim shook his fist at the low hanging ceiling. 'If only I had a laser blaster cannon! I would infiltrate the enemies base and the mission would be won!'  
Purple held onto his gun tighter, a laser rifle slung across his shoulder. 'We're here to gather information on Vortian tech. And they took your gun away at dispatch because you shot Instructor Ponds, twice. Once when he was down.'  
'Or a grenade launcher!' Zim bent backwards, gnashing his teeth. 'We'll DESTROY them! Blow them all into SPACE! Pow! Eeugh! And they will know they died because of ZIM!'

Purple watched Zim squirm for a while with an emotionless face. Then he grinned. He opened one of the screens on his gauntlets, to make sure. There was indeed a minefield next to them, between where the escape cruiser had been dropped off, and their holo shelter.   
Purple clicked the screen shut and tried to keep from laughing. 'Oh no! Zim! I think you should run out there into the mine field!'   
Zim looked up from the floor, where he'd been hammering his fist into the dirt. 'Is it vital to the mission?'   
Purple turned a chuckle into a cough. 'Oh yeah, yeah! Very dangerous! You should clear a path for us, with your own body!'  
Zim frowned. 'Shouldn't we go around the mind field?'  
Purple started to bundling him off towards the exit. 'There's no time, Zim! I got a message! Just now! Take my laser rifle!' Purple unhooked the weapon from his shoulder and handed it to Zim.  
Zim embraced it with his grabby little hands. 'THANK you! I won't disappoint you my commanding Elite! The way shall be safe! You can count on ZIM.'  
Purple bit down on his bottom lip to not giggle as he shoved the smaller Irken outside   
'Go on, run as fast and wide as you can, Zim! Start the ship we'll catch up! Hurry! Hurry!'

Purple ran back to watch at the opening, then guffawed when he saw Zim actually do it. The little idiot was running across the mine field! A rustle of the holo-fabric announced Red coming into the shelter. Purple waved him closer. 'Look what he's doing!'  
Red frowned. 'Where's Zim, I told you two to wait here.'  
'I know! I sent him out there and he's actually doing it!'  
Red strode over and grabbed Purple by the uniform, bringing him close to his anger filled eyes. 'He'll alert everyone to our presence!'   
Purple went limp in his grasp, waving his arm towards the mine field and Zim. 'He'll just blow up and they'll think it's a random Blindorp that ran into their field or something. Look!'  
They watched Zim scuttle, going in a wide zig-zag. Suddenly his boot dipped low into the ground and he exploded, the blast sent him flying into the air engulfed in flames. Higher and higher he rose, screaming.   
Red released his grip and they watched with smiles forming on their faces. Zim arched back down, his yelling contorted by the speed of his descend. He fell onto another mine. They laughed as the explosion launched him back into the sky again.  
Red scratched the back of his neck, checking the gauntlet that had his screen. 'He's kind of being blown towards the ship.'   
'Yeah, why isn't he dying faster.'  
Red narrowed his eyes, his voice growing tense. 'Didn't he steal that power armor from invader Spiffy? Oh.'  
'Oh yeah... That was some advanced power armor.'  
Red pushed past Purple to have a better view. 'He reached the ship.'

Staggering, burnt and smoking, a tiny shape exited the mine field and disappeared into the cloaked escape ship.   
Purple shifted back and forth. 'Maybe he doesn't know how to start it?' The blastoff from the ship ripped the air apart, shaking the earth and setting off nearby mines. Somewhere, a siren went off.   
Red's lips curled up and he stood very still. 'We were supposed to be on that ship when it takes off!'  
Purple flailed. 'I'm sorry! I was so bored and you were gone forever and I was stuck here with ZIM and- Oh no!'  
Red grabbed him by the shoulder, pushing him down into into the dirt with him. 'You complete Idiot!,' he shouted over the noise. 'Just stay still. With any luck they'll focus on the escape ship!'

But the escape ship flew their way, setting off more mines with its exhaust, the force of it blew their cover off sending it whipping away across the field.   
Red scowled, focusing Purple with a hard expression. 'Now, you may panic.'

A heat seeking missile whizzed through the air, exploding the escape ship on impact, filling the air with flames and smoke. But the ship reappeared out of the dark cloud, unharmed.   
Purple shook his head, tears in his eyes. 'It was Zim's idea and I hope he dies!' The sound of another rocket thundered their way, collided with ship. It spun off.   
On the horizon, ground troops were being dispatched, their running shapes gaining on their position.  
Red dragged Purple upright, towards the shelter of the forest they'd come through before. But the foot soldiers were fast, aided by strange limb-like technology they'd came here to spy on. Another rocket went off, aimed at them. The ground exploded, sending them sailing though the air and into the ground.   
Purple spit out the mouth of dirt he'd eaten. 'It's ZIM, He's firing at us!'  
A voice crackled to life on the escape ship's external speakers. 'I'll save you my Elite! Do not worry!'

Red raised his fist and spittle flew as he yelled; 'Stop shooting-' A Vortian sprang into view and immediately disappearing into an explosion.   
The blast wave sent Red flying backwards. Bombs went off everywhere. Another rocket hit the ship. Red shook himself free of the debris, scanning the chaos around him. 'Purple!,' his voice cracked and he blinked without seeing. He'd been standing right next to him a second ago. Why did I have to call him an idiot.   
'Purple!' He stood very still as the earth tore itself up around him. His heartbeat loud, every other sound muffled by the ringing in his ears. There! Something purple ran towards the trees.   
Red saw the light before he felt the shock. A Vortian stuck him with a metal stick and the sparks ate into his side. Red curled up on the ground as the pain wracked his body, the electric current made him bend and unbend on the ground. If Zim had any sense he'd fly after Purple and get him out. Darkness.   
  
The smell of dried blood clung to the dirty tiles of the torture chamber. Red found himself cowering against the wall. He'd tried to stay in the middle of the room, to show he was not afraid, but he'd eventually ended up against the wall. Now his knees felt weak and standing up seemed impossible. A chill clung to his skin. It soothed the burns from where they'd jabbed him with the electric thingy. The immensity of the chamber dwarfed him into feeling insignificant. A harsh light shone down on him from above- Like being under a microscope. It certainly brought out all the... stains, that stuck to the tiles.   
It's better to appear small, Red thought. Most Irkens were taller than any of them, even now as a trainee combatant Elite. But he might have a chance... No, it would be no use pretending to be a lower ranked Irken. Zim had made sure of that with his speakers. At least Purple got away.   
The Vortians weren't good at torture. They were more interested in technology than combat. Were they? Maybe they'd even forgotten about him, doing science stuff.   
The door slid open, throwing a harsh sliver of red light across the room. A Vortian, standing on its strange bendy legs, appeared in the doorway. Red tensed up. If he was fast he could- A giant robot blocked out the view of the beckoning hallway. It stepped into the room with surprising silence for its enormous bulk.  
The Vortian laughed, making the curled horns on its head move with him. 'Not so happy to see my friend here, hm?'  
Red shook his head. 'Not really.'  
'We Vortians don't believe in torture.'  
A light hearten feeling bloomed up in Red's chest.  
'So we made robots to do it for us.'   
The feeling turned into heart palpitations. Red didn't move as the robot stomped towards him. It grabbed him, lifting him up for inspection. He squirmed, but there was no use in it. He was being held like a toy. Red lifted his chin at it's empty plate of a face. Something dark and wobbly stuck to the side of it. Red looked away.   
The Vortian stepped on a particular tile and it hovered up to be at eye level with him. The grayish face leaned close into his own, yellow eyes gleaming behind reflective goggles. Red leaned away as far as he could. Yuk.  
The Vortian smirked. 'I know what you are. You're one of their elite. Their “Tallest.”  
Red maintained eye contact, but his voice came out breathy; 'in training.'  
'A disease in training!' The Vortian laughed. 'You won't conquer us. In fact, we are going to rectify your race's transgression on the universe. You won't enslave us! We will enslave you!'  
Red snorted. 'Listen. You may have some brainy things, but that's nothing against our numbers. Go ahead and squish me, there's millions more where I come from. What are you, like one smeet...vort?... per year?'  
'It's one glorious child of the Vortian Collective per lifetime, to a mated couple.'  
Red laughed out loud.   
The Vortian studied the back of his claw. 'We birth our own, nothing that your infertile abominable breed can grasp. Explosive growth like yours is unnatural, machine bred.'  
'We perfected it.'  
'Automated the infection, and it will mean the doom to the universe. You will be stopped.'   
Red leaned back. 'I'm not going to tell you anything. Get it over with.'  
The Vortian stared at him, then he smiled. Red didn't like the smile.  
'Alright, squish him!'   
The blow still came sudden, even though red saw the floor coming up. The he giant hand smacked him into the tiles. He heard a snap inside himself, and several cracks. Warm, pinkish blood bubbled up from his mouth and spattered the tiles. So that's how the stains get there. The robot kicked him onto his back. Red half got up, the giant boot kicked him back down with ease. It connected with his ribs, his back. Then it stepped down on his head, crushing him. The pressure was immense. Red tensed up, squeezing his eyes shut.  
'Pause,' the Vortian said.  
Red opened his eyes again. His head sang with pain. The Vortian peeked at him underneath the boot, smiling. He looked tall from Red's crumpled position.   
'Got any secrets worth your life?,' the Vortian asked. 'What were you even doing out here in our territory, with your rank? You must be incredibly stupid.'   
Arrogant, Red thought, but he kept his mouth shut.  
The Vortian leaned in closer. 'Show me your hand.'   
Red didn't respond.   
'Robot.'   
Red gasped as the thing grabbed his arm and dangled him in the air. Sharp pains stabbed into his chest from the shoulder joint.  
The Vortian hovered on his tile, right next to him. 'There's an echo in this room.' He snapped his finger and the giant's grip tightened. Red clenched his teeth, squirming. He clawed with his free arm for purchase on the smooth robot arm.   
'Do you have a favored arm?,' the Vortian wanted to know.   
Red shook his head, he didn't know. He couldn't think. The pain!   
The Vortian nodded at the robot. It spread his fingers, holding red's arm at the gauntlet, with forefinger and thumb. Red sucked in a breath, a groan escaped him.   
The Vortian cupped a hand to his ear, blinking expectantly.   
Red felt the sweat run down his forehead. Black spots danced in front of his vision. Don't scream, please, just focus. Focus. Think of   
The world shrunk, as his vision tunneled onto his wrist. His heartbeat roared in his head like crashing waves.   
'Ah, almost...'  
He saw his fingers curl into a fist as the metal of his gauntlet snapped. The giant's fingers pressed the shards into his skin- and through- making the blood spurt out.  
Someone was screaming like insanity. His bones clicked as they ground together, then a dry snap. The screaming stopped and after a while stopped again.

The floor stuck to his face. Why am I so heavy. Red sat up and felt nothing.   
'Are you thinking clearly now?,' a nearby voice asked.  
Red looked down his arm, it ended in a twisted thing that couldn't be his. He certainly couldn't feel it. 'You messed up my armor,' he said in a hollow voice. Something was funny. Oh, those fingers pointed the wrong way. Heh. Purple would be nagging about the gauntlet though, he'd taken hours programming it.  
The Vortian snapped his fingers in front of red's face. Red recoiled at the sound. Incredibly loud! Louder than Zim. I hate Zim so much. A wave of nausea rushed through him, his skin tingled and some of the pain came through. So. Much pain.   
The Vortian nodded at the mangled arm. 'You Irken's are pretty good at healing. I wonder how long that's going to take. Then we can do it again.' The yellow eyes widened with glee. 'Why not right now!'  
Red screamed as the giant hand grabbed his head. The grip tightened on the front. My eyes!   
The Vortian stood nearby, his scratchy voice in a sing-song tone. 'Still don't want to tell me anything worth your life? Do your eyes regenerate? Or are they irreplaceabele?'  
Red gritted his teeth. Ready for death, here I come. He winched at the image of himself. Weak and defeated. That scream. He couldn't stop shaking. Ugh. Get rid of it.  
The Vortian sounded even closer. 'I think your friend's eye isn't healing at all.'  
'What.' The word spilled out of Red and tasted like blood.  
There was a silence. Then the Vortian laughed. 'You didn't think your colleage... comrade, whatever, got away did you? We thought he might know more than you. But he didn't really hold up well. Not at all. A complete mess...' Another silence hung in the air.   
Red squirmed as a tremor ran through him. He strained, despite the futility of it. Something in his chest tightened and wouldn't let him breathe.   
The rush of a door opening and the clicking footsteps of Vortian's dropping off something heavy.   
'There he is,' the Vortian said. 'Oh no. Not better at all. Is he even breathing?'  
Red shivered. 'Stop playing games!' His voice was way too high and he gritted his teeth at himself. Purple got away! It was all a game.   
'Oh you can't see. Let him see.'   
The fist let go and Red toppled onto the tiles. A flash of purple danced in front of his vision as his eyes adjusted. He crawled towards it.'Purple!'   
Before he could reach, the robot grabbed his arm. Pain exploded and his screams echoed everywhere. There was a clink of chains and he couldn't move any further. He couldn't breathe. With jangled vision, he saw the chain, spanning from his PAK to the Robot, keeping him in place like some animal. Irrelevant!  
He pushed the pain away. Purple! The crumpled body looked unnatural. Blood. Too much blood. What if they'd damaged his PAK. 'Is he alive?!' There was pleading in his voice. Real and urgent and never there before.  
The Vortian stared him down. There was no mercy in that face. 'This reminds me of something,' he said, walking over to Purple. He placed a boot onto his chest. Red groaned, twisting against the chain.  
The Vortian leaned into his leg.   
Red crumpled to the floor, his eyes glazing over. Why doesn't Purple react. A sick feeling dug into his stomach, freezing him in place.  
'What does this remind me of?' The Vortian snapped his fingers. 'This is exactly what my people looked like after the raid on Ghian, you know, our outpost that your people took? That beautiful planet with the giant trees. That was some time ago, two years in fact, but the images won't fade they stay alive like the pain. Everyone dying, suffering, all the trees burning. But as long as you got your precious conquest.' He spat the word. 'And what is there now? What did your people build on the ashes?'   
Red shook his head. 'I'm- I-'  
The Vortian's eyes bulged. 'A SNACK SHACK!' He stomped down.   
Red whimpered. 'Please!' He pressed his head to the floor, extending his working hand. 'Please! I'll give you what you want.'  
A cough stained the air with blood.  
Red's head snapped up. Purple stirred, blood trickling down from the side of his face. His eye. The sight wrenched his heart, but he took a deep breath.   
The Vortian removed his boot, looking at Red, without any interest for the other captive. 'A Tallest, begging. Now how about that. What do you have that I want?'  
Red swallowed, eyes on Purple. 'I have codes that will let any ship though our defenses. All the locations... of important structures.' I'm a traitor.   
A metallic sound hit the floor and Red fell forward. Freed from the chain he crawled, dragging his arm. He hesitated, then touched his fingers to Purple's neck. An unstable heartbeat met his fingertips. Something hot soaked against his knees, up from the floor. Blood. Am I a Traitor? He softened his voice, raw from the recent abuse, close to Purple's ear. 'Hey...'   
The Vortian twirled something in his fingers. Red's eyes focused on it. A medpack, one of their “super sticks”  
'Would you look at this,' the Vortian said. 'I have a med stick.'  
Red looked down, at Purple, at his own arm. It meant so little in comparison to their race. Replaceable, everyone. The control brains would just breed and program new Irkens to take over the universe. Undamaged ones. But if Purple dies, what's the point? Traitor.   
Purple groaned. Red cradled his face in his hand, listening at his lips. The bruised eye twitched. 'Put.. it down. Zim.' There was hatred in that last word.   
Despite everything, Red smiled. Why wasn't Zim here, being tortured? Instead that Whirm had a cozy seat on the escape ship. Red looked up with an keen flash of feeling in his eyes. Zim would be on home planet.  
He shifted his position, unfastening Purple's gauntlet. He cradled it against his chest and typed in a string of passwords.   
The purple screen flitted to life.   
'It's all in here,' he said. 'Y- you crushed mine.'  
The Vortian tossed him the stick. Red dropped the gauntlet, it was caught in an electric beam, floating over towards the Vortian. Everything. For one med stick.   
The Vortian chuckled. 'Won't do you much long-term good. You'll both be executed. Or put on display. I haven't decided. Maybe another round of beatings.'   
Red took the med stick in his mouth and pulled, spitting the cap across the room.   
The Vortian turned away, holding up the gauntlet. 'This better work.'   
'It will!,' Red spluttered the words, grappling with the stick and Purple's body. The robot and its master left through the door. Now they were alone.   
Red jabbing the stick into Purple's neck, hanging on. Purple jerked in his feeble grasp as the mixture set to work; a bone righted itself in his spine, then a rib curled back into shape. His lungs breathed in the fetid air. Red held on as tight as he could. The hot dark pain of his arm pummelled at his mind with every jerk. He pressed his face to Purple's cheek, cradling him.  
'Hey,' he held his voice soft, straining to keep any pain out of it. 'You're not an Idiot. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.'  
Stronger jabs of pain weighed him down, sending him deep into the floor where unconsciousness reached up ink-black to claim him.

  
Purple opened his eyes, pinching them closed against the glaring light. He felt... surprisingly okay. The floor was kinda lumpy. When he sat up a med stick fell into his lap 'Wha?' His eye twitched. Then the memories hit hi. He curled up, holding his head. 'Red!' He gasped, 'they're going to kill me!'  
Tears welled up in his eyes when he saw the familiar shape lying next to him. He grabbed Red by the shoulders. There was no reaction. 'You're hurt! No. oh no. nononononon.'   
A hand came up and slapped him across the face, but feebly, barely grazing his cheek.   
Purple breathed in. 'Red. What happened to your arm!'  
The lights blinked overhead, then a deep roar shook the room. Purple cowered back down. 'What's happening!'  
Red struggled to sit but couldn't. 'That's probably the rockets,' he said. 'Big one's'  
Purple looked behind him. 'What rocket? Zim?'   
Red shook his head, his voice weak and monotone. 'I gave them the codes to everything. They're going to destroy our home and everyone on it.'  
Purple's mouth hung open. 'Okay. Why, would you do that?'  
Red stared at nothing. 'I had to.'  
A tinge of genuine curiosity mingled with Purple's hysterics. 'But really, How could you? You don't know... Oh, from my gauntlet?'  
The light flickered, then blinked and stayed gone. Purple huddled closer to Red. The rocket's roar made the darkness a monster that had swallowed them alive. He whimpered. Then tapped his second gauntlet, making a glare light up his face. 'I hate the dark!' he looked around and groaned. 'Great, it only makes the room look darker and more threatening.' Something on the screen caught his eyes. Hey, it's online.' He tapped in a code, calling up the numbers beside the Irken emblem. 'They have it plugged into their system.'   
A rush of air cut the darkness and Red's face was inches away from his own. 'Hack them! Infect their system and take it.' Red took a sharp breath, shivering. Purple grabbed his shoulder stopping him from falling backwards.   
Red glared at him. 'Hack. Them.'  
'I just press a few button and the gauntlet does the rest. Can you sit? I need my hand.'   
Red nodded.   
Purple entered some passwords, then nodded. 'There. Shouldn't take longer than...' A thump hit the floor.  
Purple let out a keening noise, feeling for Red in the darkness. Using his light, he found Red's arm and got a better look. Cruel, metal shards wedged into his flesh, digging underneath the partially healed skin. The metal made a dark colour flare up around it. Purple curled and uncurled his fingers. The bones didn't look right either. He tipped his head back, more tears forming. 'I- I know you did what you did... that you, you did it for me.'   
On his gauntlet's screen, a smiley appeared. Then a cheery voice announced; 'System hacked and awaiting orders!'  
Purple wiped at his tears. 'Kill everyone! No- no we need people to do the work... throw them into cells. And bring me all the med sticks!'  
A great noise broke out around the room. Purple curled up, clinging to Red's body.  
The cheery voice beeped from his arm; 'should I also stop the rockets?'   
Purple squeezed his eyes shut and goopy tears ran out.'Do whatever you want with the rockets I don't care!'   
'Rockets averted and sent to blow up nearby planet.'  
Purple shivered, grabbing at Red's uniform. 'I don't know what to do without you- don't die! Red- Red come on!'   
The door slid open and a robot walked in. Purple screamed then took the med sticks from it's offering hands. The light flashed back on, revealing med sticks falling from the ceiling. They formed piles around them that kept growing as the entire ship's supply began to fill up the room. In the hallways, Vortians ran screaming. Cables broke out of the walls. Their own robots carried them off, dragging them across the floor. The door closed and the noise cut off.   
Purple uncapped the stick and jabbed one directly into Red's dying arm. Nothing. Purple gibbered, stabbing a second one into red's chest. He grabbed a third, aiming at the bruised-up face.   
Without opening his eyes Red slapped it away.   
Purple fell back and sobbed, crying out in relief.   
Red sat up.   
Purple saw him grit his teeth, then take his wounded arm by the thumb and twist in into the right position.  
Purple gasped. A gush of admiration rushing to his face, making it slack as his heartbeat fluttered in his throat.   
Red turned to him, breathing hard through the pain. Then an evil grin spread across his face. He stood up, looking down at him. The light made a shining outline around his body. 'Get up.'   
Purple swallowed, not wanting to be himself right now. But also not wanting to be anywhere else. He followed close behind Red, as he walked towards the door.   
Red glared at the mess that was still filling up the room. 'And stop with the med sticks!' He halted in the doorway, speaking almost too soft to hear, but not for the now obedient walls. 'Bring me the Vortian that tortured us.'   
Purple felt his jaw clench.   
When the doors opened again, silence reigned throughout the ship. The Vortian that was marched before them by its own creation trembled, almost unable to walk.   
Purple felt a twinge of fear at the familiar form. But what had actually happened, that caused the fear, was somehow missing. He didn't want to remember. His eye twitched and he rubbed it, feeling sick.  
Red spread his arms, a happy ring to his voice. 'Hello again! Have you decided what you want to do with us yet?' The happy tone gradually became a sharp edge. 'Look at all those med sticks. I bet they'd keep you alive for quite some time no matter what we do to you. You and your naturally born family.'   
The Vortian gulped, his eyes shifting from the robots, to the med sticks, everywhere but at Red.   
Purple smirked. That alien was trembling on his little small, bendy legs. He looked so stupid and inferior. He hated him. A flashback of a robot hand came at his head. Bringing terrible pain. He swayed. Red caught his hand, steadying him without looking. Red was so good at this, at being mean and intimidating. It was always nice when someone else was the target.   
Purple leaned into him, grabbing his shoulder for support. 'Yeah! Have you decided?' He didn't know what else to say, or what they were talking about. The Vortian looked very small, so very very tiny. He looked up with his stupid yellow eyes.   
'Hey,' Purple heard himself say. 'We should hurt him! We should rip his arms off.'  
Red talked though a sneer. 'That what we're going to do.'  
A wave of something close to being tired, and something else, washed over Purple. He sighed, leaning into red. He squeezed his shoulder, his exposed thumb pressing against the sensitive spot just underneath the shoulder's nub.   
Red's antennae tensed. Purpled leaned in a little closer, breathing against his neck. The little alien was so boring.   
Red pointed down at the terrified prisoner. 'We are going to take our time deciding what to do with you.' He strode past, taking Purple's hand. Then he leaned back around the door. 'But we are going to nuke this planet from orbit. And THEN we will put a snack shack on it!'  
'Yeah! Snacks!' Purple yelled from the hallway.

They found a storage closet, hiding away out of habit. Purple closed the door behind him when Red pushed him against the wall, leaning into him. A broom fell to the side, so did a stack of towels. Purple looked into the smirking face. Red stared back heavy lidded. 'You.'   
Purple brushed his hands up towards Red's shoulders, leaning close. He breathed against his neck. Red pushed him back into the wall with force. They brought their lips together. 'Your arm,' Purple spoke between kissed. 'You need... to take... the shards... ...out.'   
'I'm fine... it's okay.'   
They stopped and listened. Grinning, they pressed their heads together. Old habits died hard. It was only on missions that they had time for these things, sometimes. Always rushed, always on the lookout. Suddenly, they had time.   
Purple stiffened.  
Red held onto his chin, making him look into his face. 'What's wrong?'  
'Let's find a bed?'

They had never quite been caught. Purple thought about this while Red practically dragged him through the empty hallways. The warm pink light of their training days shone up through his memories. Red had somehow... always been there, at the centre of everything. Purple just couldn't stay away. Red never seemed bothered by the attention. Those first touches and sounds, hidden behind the hissing pipes of the laundry room. Then it also became sneaking off just to talk. When Red had been selected out as Elite, it had been no surprise. Purple shivered thinking back at that awful morning of the announcement. He'd run off to hide somewhere. Then Red had come to find him, he knew all their places. Purple saw that younger face again, looking down at as he cowered behind the pipes of machine room seven. It looked hurt, desperate even. Elite's had different quarters, separate classes to go to. It wasn't encouraged to mingle with the ordinary Irkens. They'd never see each-other close-by again. Purple had let himself be held, saying goodbye in his mind on loop. They'd drift apart now. But somehow that never happened. By the time Purple had his own Eliteness announced, it didn't really make a difference.   
  
Red kicked open a promising door. It led into a long hallway with slightly better carpet. He yanked Purple towards him, holding him at the back of his neck. He started into those eyes. There was still some damage to the lens, but that would heal over nicely. The world could go and die if those eyes weren't in it to look back at him. There had never been time to realise that and think what he felt; mine.   
'Red?'  
'Hm? Oh!' he shook himself away from the gaze, taking up the lead again.   
At the end of the hallway, they paused in the doorway. The white ceilinged room beamed at them. Purple went in first. 'Look at all this … fancy stuff!'  
Red had no interest for the room, but looked at the sleek silhouette exploring it.

Purple placed his hands on his hips. 'Now this is a bedroom.' There was something soft and shiny everywhere you looked. With a giant window looking out at the stars. He heard rustling sheets. Red lay on the white and blue bed. That smile.   
Purple jabbed his gauntlet and the lights dimmed. He walked up to the bed, swaying a little. Then he reached into his PAK and took out a pair of tweezers and scalpel. Red's face shifted to being uncomfortable.   
Purple ignored him, crawling closer across the sheets. 'Time for those shards to come out.'  
Red sighed, but he extended his arm anyway.  
Purple nestled into the crook of his shoulder and took out the med stick he'd swiped when they left the cell. He turned it around, shook it, and jabbed the arm with an anaesthetic. Red groaned, pressing his head to Purple's back. He sounded more tired than pained. Purple got to work. When he was done, he ripped up the sheet and bandaged him up.   
  
Red crawled up against him, nuzzling his neck. The room felt soft and warm around them. A new longing mingled up with the tenseness of want in his chest. 'Snacks.'   
Purple extended his arm to the ceiling. 'Give us all the snacks!'  
'Within reason!' Red added, falling back on the mattress.   
The ceiling opened and candy-bars fell out. They clawed at them, ripping the plastic to get at the sweet sustenance within- eating parts of the wrapper stuffing their faces.   
They collapsed onto each-other, half covered by candy. Their hands touched and they gripped, exploring. This was how they had found each other throughout the later years. In the middle of something, out of the way of everyone.   
Red stripped away the clothes in his way, Purple doing away with his. They stroked and caressed, always a shock that moment when their bare skin touched. Their breathing moved the air between them.   
Purple finally got behind him. Red took that tense breath as they melded together. That raw feeling. Still as intensely vulnerable as the first time, almost unbearable. Purple reached for him, embracing his chest, gently, intimate. Red grabbed his arm. A new sense of something unfurled inside him.   
Red shifted his position, forcing Purple down beneath him; exposed lying in his back like this. Beautiful.   
Purple blinked up at him, questioning. But there's that intuitive hint of understanding, a trust, in his eyes.   
Red licked his lips, placing his hands on the other's shoulders, pushing him down. Tracing up slowly, gripping his throat. Purple stiffened.   
Red stopped. Blinking. What do I want with this? He wanted to make Purple feel things. Purple should feel, while he was in control and watching. Not equal, but- The other connection their species had. Everyone knew the diagrams from old Biology. But they'd never done this, no longer expected to breed and infertile... that other thing had seemed- Could he just do it? The frustration made him tighten his grip.   
Purple chocked, he let go, startled. 'I don't- I don't want to hurt you.'  
'I think you do.' Purple smirked.   
'You don't know what I want.' Red narrowed his eyes.

Purple felt weirdly confident. He lifted his chin up in defiance. 'Go on. I'm curious where you want to go with this. It's not like we'll get another chance like it.' He got comfortable, placing his arms underneath his head. Let him do the work for once.  
Then Red leaned back and the look on his face sent a shiver down Purple's body. Red seemed to enjoy what he saw, glancing through half lidded eyes. The air had changed. Purple unwittingly moved, but now Red's weight pinned him down. Re-'  
The word was cut off by a slap. Purple gasped, his ears ringing, only to breathe in Red's fingers. They dug into his mouth, exploring. Purple's eyes squeezed shut and a moan escaped him.   
Red forced his legs apart with his, taking his arms and pinning them away to the side.  
Purple writhed, not finding enough breath to speak, he whimpered. Red kissed him. Long, deep, their tongues intertwining. Purple's heart hitched, becoming painful inside his chest. Demanding more while Red was everywhere.   
Then the hands around his throat are back, tightening. Red lowered himself onto him, mounting them together. They interlock again. So it doesn't feel diff- Purple stiffened. Something IS different. He struggled, looking up. Red, smirking, forced himself down in the dominant position. Making him use the submissive sex organs. Purple felt himself open up, accommodating Red inside. Too much! A deep blush rushed up to his face. He turned to look away. But Red tightens his grip, forcing him to look into his face as he penetrates him. It's too much! The world shrunk down to their movements. Purple heard his own strained breathing, Red's. Then the pressure around his throat is released.   
Air rushed back into him. His entire body tensed and a wave of something wonderful rolled over him. He groaned, no longer fighting the restraint but leaning into it. Red grips his face, looking at everything he can see. A breathy laugh on his lips. 'Take it. Look at me, hey.' He slaps him again, hard.   
Purple fights to focus on the eyes above him, with effort, shivering, lip trembling. The sheets are drenched. Red leans into him. 'I want you to take this.'  
Purple's eye open wide, in pain, wanting.   
Red tilts back his head, he moves himself in and out. Then curls forward, holding on. Purple groans, his mouth opens in a gasp when the liquid begins to fill him up.   
  
Red cried out, tensing up mid-release. He watched Purple's abdomen swell up, the limbs weakly straining underneath him, as he empties himself into him. 'You're mine,' he pants, clinging. Mine.   
Then he collapses, rolling to the side still holding on.   
Purple's breathing is too rapid, he shivers, overfilled- then everything comes flooding out of him onto the covers. The slimy goop sticking them together.   
They stare at each other in dulled horror and fascination.   
Red half grins. 'T-That's what I wanted.'   
'And it sure is a horrible mess.' They look at each other's faces and laugh.  
'Glad this isn't our bed.'  
Red giggles. 'Let's have someone clean it!'   
'Let's find another bed.'  
'And more snacks.'  
Can I be the dominant next?'  
'No.'  
'Aw. Come on!'  
'Maybe.'

They fell asleep in the storage closet, limbs entangled between candy wrappers and towels, holding each-other on their way back home.

 

 


End file.
